The design and synthesis of active materials for organic photovoltaic cells (OPV) is a focus of considerable current interest motivated by the possibility of producing solar electricity using light-weight, cost-effective and environmentally friendly solar cells [1]. The hetero-junction generated by contacting an electron donor material (D) with an electron acceptor (A) is the heart of an OPV cell [2]. Donor–acceptor molecules built by connecting a diphenylhydrazone block to a dicyanovinyl acceptor group via various thiophene-based p-conjugating spacers revealed to be promising materials for OPV applications [3]. The introduction in the D-A systems of nitro groups as acceptors, is still poorly studied. Such groups are characterized by a strong polar nature which can impart unique properties to the compounds. Here we explore novel dinitrophenyl-hydrazone a,w -substituted 3-dodecyl-thiophene (NTN) and 3,3-dihexyl-terthiophene (NT3N)). In these compounds two terminal dinitrophenyl-hydrazone moieties are acceptors (A) vs the central oligothiophene donor (D), in a conjugated A-D-A structure. The Electrochemical and Optical properties of the two compound in solution and in thin film will be analyzed and discussed.
References
[1] Y.-J. Cheng, S. H. Yang, C.-S. Hsu, Chem. Rev. 2009, 109, 5868. [2] Y. Liang, L. Yu, Acc. Chem. Res. 2010, 43, 1227. [3] A. Diac, D. Demeter, M. Allain, I. Grosu, J. Roncali, Chem. Eur. J. 2015, 21, 1598.